As I was wasting time around the web, as I am prone to do, I came across FHM's (For Him Magazine) website, which has an interesting web-based project called The NHL Locker Room.

They've signed up a few NHL players and personalities who do a few journal entries (faux blog style) for the site, including Martin Havlat, Marty Turco, Marian Hossa, Jeremy Roenick, and Derek Boogaard.

Jeremy Roenick? Give him a platform and you'd expect fireworks...
Well, you do get a picture of him in a scene of the TV Show "Ghost Whisperer"

This Friday, I’ll be making a television appearance that won’t require you to search for me all over your digital cable. If you’ve been following hockey closely this year, you’ve seen many great acting appearances as some players dive to try and draw penalties from the referees. But this is a different kind of acting. I’ll be playing the role of a baseball coach in an episode of the Ghost Whisperer on CBS. A good friend of mine is one of the producers of the show and he got me the role. I don’t have many lines. Nevertheless, acting is grueling. The 30-second scene took about eight hours to shoot.

A thinly veiled shot at the NHL's American TV rights. Nice. Perhaps if JR wasn't such a primadonna, his scene wouldn't have taken 8 hours.

Martin "The Brat" Havlat? You'd expect some cheekiness from him as well, but...

Greetings from Chicago. I just came from the movies. I went to see Blood Diamond. It's a really serious movie, based on a true story, but I loved it. If you have the chance you should go see it.

Well, Marty Havlat likes it, so it must be good...geez.. *rolleyes* That's as juicy as he gets...

Unfortunately, these two guys have only updated sporadically, with their most recent updates coming about two months after their previous entries.

Moving on, new addition Marty Turco seems to be extremely active on the site with two entries in his first two days on the site.

Kirk McLean is the goaltender I look to when I took the position seriously. I was always impressed with how he held his composure, and the team fed off his calmness. He was very underrated, the way he led the Canucks to within a win of the Stanley Cup against the Rangers in 1994.

Captain Kirk? Wow...that's the first time I've heard another goalie acknowledge MacLean as a goaltending 'icon'. Score two points for "Turk"

Hmm, I want some real dirt, dammit..Ahh, here we go: Brian McGrattan...

As predicted, I squared off against Wade Belak last night. Right off the face off in the second period, he asked if I wanted to go. You don’t even have to ask me, I’m always ready to go. I got a hold of him early, because I didn’t want him to lock me out. I like to go toe-to-toe. I don’t like those fights where you feel like you’re wearing a seatbelt, I want to throw punches. After they broke it up and I went to the box, I showed him how he was covering up like a turtle. I get fired up when I’m about to fight, and I don’t like it when guys cover up. We’ve got the Leafs one more time and the Bruins on Saturday, so that’s probably two more fights this week. I don’t mind. I’d fight every game if I could. I’m ready for the next one.

Overall, the FHM's idea is a good one, and shows promise with the addition of a couple of new players.

The execution? that needs work. Some players don't update their sites very often, and some of the entries are just as generic as the intermission interviews. Guys like Jeremy Roenick and Brian McGrattan give good examples of what we want to see. This format should allow the players to give us a bit of their true selves and some of the inside 'dish' we want to hear.

Oh, and make sure to see Blood Diamond...Martin Havlat said it's good.

Labels: FHM, Havlat, Links, McGrattan, Roenick, Turco